Republicans Pass More Partisan Space Legislation and Forego Opportunity to Work towards a Bipartisan Consensus on a Commercial Space Launch Bill

Press Release

Yesterday, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a markup of four bills related to the commercial space industry.

H.R. 2262, the "Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship Act of 2015" -- amends the Commercial Space Launch Act.

Democratic Members of the Committee opposed this bill because it took a fundamentally unbalanced approach to the issues facing the commercial space launch industry. Moving far beyond addressing the legitimate needs of the industry, the bill is heavily skewed towards industry's desires, whether in matters pertaining to the safety of the general public, or in matters pertaining to the safety of the future customers of the industry. As was the case for all of the bills considered, the Committee did not have hearings on the legislation or a subcommittee markup.

Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said, "I want to be clear that I am a strong supporter of the commercial space launch industry. I want to see this industry continue to grow and be successful. But I don't want that growth to be at the expense of the safety of the public on the ground or of the space-flying public. I certainly don't fault the industry for seeking the most advantageous laws they can get. However, when Congress gets those wish lists from industry, we ought to act with a little restraint. Instead the Majority acts with a rubber stamp in the crafting of this bill."

Democratic Members had a number of amendments today that would have provided greater protections for the public and the rights of individuals involved with the industry. See all of the amendments here.

Ranking Member of the Space Subcommittee, Donna F. Edwards (D-MD), had an amendment that would have removed a harmful and ill-advised provision in the bill that would limit any judicial jurisdiction of activities related to licensed commercial launches or reentries to the Federal courts and require that these courts only decide these cases based on Federal law.

She said, "This really is an indefensible provision. On the one hand the Majority is putting off safety regulations until well into the next decade. And on the other hand the Majority is essentially barring anyone from almost any legal action against a negligent or reckless launch provider for any injuries caused by a launch. With this provision, the Majority is basically providing the launch industry with complete immunity from any civil action."

The American Association for Justice wrote a letter to the Committee opposing this section of the bill. View the letter here.

Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY) had an amendment to remove a provision on cross waivers of liability. The provision requires spaceflight participants to waive liability against other parties in the launch if they are provided with an informed consent waiver. That means that spaceflight participants waive their rights to sue the launch provider and related parties for claims.

He said, "Cross-waivers of liability might make sense if there were some assurance that regulations on the safety of spaceflight participants on a commercially licensed spaceflight system were in place. However, H.R. 2262 proposes a lengthy moratorium on such regulations, while also proposing to protect the launch provider from any claims by a spaceflight participant. Cross waivers affect the rights of individuals on important safety matters."

Ranking Member Johnson said of the bill, "This was another missed opportunity for the Committee to conduct serious oversight. I hope that we can return to a more productive legislative process in the future."

The Committee also considered H.R.1508, the "Space Resource Exploration and Utilization Act of 2015" -- a bill that ostensibly would enable the development of a commercial asteroid mining and exploitation industry.

Though Democratic Members see great potential in commercial space resource utilization, they opposed the bill on the grounds that it is premature and raises numerous unresolved legal, policy, and constitutional issues.

Ranking Member Johnson had an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute that would have instructed the President to convene an interagency study under the leadership of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and with participation by all appropriate federal agencies. It would also have the National Academies consider these issues.

She said, "I think the bill's authors have performed a service in starting a discussion of the many issues it raises about property rights in space, international treaty obligations, and appropriate licensing and regulation of outer space activities. That said, I also think that we are not at all close to resolving those issues, and it is far too early to be marking up this legislation. If we are serious, we should make the effort to get the information we will need to make sensible decisions. I believe my amendment does just that."

The Committee also passed two bills with bipartisan support.

H.R. 2261, the "Commercial Remote Sensing Act of 2015 - The Commercial Remote Sensing Act of 2015, which was cosponsored by Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), would require an annual report on commercial remote sensing licensing activities. It would also require a report by the Secretary of Commerce on any statutory updates that the Secretary, in consultation with other appropriate agencies and the NOAA Commercial Remote Sensing Advisory Committee, thinks are needed.

H.R. 2263, the "Office of Space Commerce Act" - The Office of Space Commerce Act would rename the Department of Commerce's Office of Space Commercialization, as well as enumerating its functions. Those functions are already largely spelled out in the Duties of Director provision in the existing law.

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